Financial AdministrationFY 16 Processes & Deliverables Calendar
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Financial SystemsSolutionsFY16Update
ReleaseCalendar
Activity / Anticipated StartDate / SystemOutage / Go Live Date / Close DateGMAS Release (GMAS 2.0) / 12/11/2015 /
12/12/2015-12/13/2015 /
12/14/2015
GMAS Release (GMAS 2.0) / 3/1/2016 / TBD / TBD
GMAS Release (GMAS 2.0) / 6/1/2016 / TBD / TBD
ESTR Product Path Release / 10/16/2015 / 10/16/15-10/18/2015 / 10/19/2015
HUBS Upgrade Project / 7/1/2015 / 11/6/2015-11/8/2015 / 11/9/2015 / 11/30/2015
PeopleSoft Release 43.0 / 12/4/2015 / 12/7/2015
PeopleSoft Release 44.0 / 4/15/2016 / 4/18/2016
Oracle EBS Release FINDINI 4.0.8 / 6/1/2015 / 10/24/2015-10/25/2015 / 10/26/2015
Oracle EBS Release FINDINI 4.0.9 / 11/1/2015 / TBD-March/April 2016 / TBD-Mar/Apr. 2016 / TBD
Disabling of Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable
and Cash Management Reports in CREW / 11/1/2015
Grants Management OBI Dashboards / 10/21/2015-pilot / 11/9/2015- University-wide
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Appendix: Dates and Glossary ofTerms FY16Update
Office of theController:
Activity / AnticipatedStartDate / Anticipated DueDate / DescriptionInterimReporting / Q4/YE:7/27/15Q1:10/16/15
Q2: 1/15/16
Q3:4/14/16 / Q4 / YE: August5
(follow-‐up through October 29)
Q1: November5
(follow-‐up through November27)
Q2: January29
(follow-‐up through February 19)
Q3: April27
(follow-‐up through May 20) / The quarterly process during which Schools/Units analyze material variances in their interim operatingresults; theycompare:1) theiryear-‐to-‐date performancevs. year-‐to-‐date performance of the prioryear, 2) theiryear-‐to-‐date performancevs. the budget, and 3) their projection for thecurrent financial yearvs. the budget / most recent quarter. Schools also comment on year-‐over-‐yearvariances in balance sheet items.
− Q1 quarterly reportingtemplatechecklist(YearoverYear fluxes -‐ balance sheetflux,statement of changes in netassets, Internal controlchecklist) / 10/16/15 / 11/5/2015
(follow-‐up through 11/27/2015) / ""
− Q2 quarterlyreportingtemplate
checklist / 1/15/16 / 1/29/2016
(follow-‐up through 2/19/2016) / ""
− Q3 quarterlyreportingtemplate
checklist / 4/14/16 / 4/27/2016
(follow-‐up through 5/20/2016) / ""
− YE quarterlyreportingtemplate
checklist / 7/27/15 / 8/5/2015**
(follow-‐up through 10/29/2015) / **TheYOYfluxanalysisisdue8/5.Budgetingandforecastingmaterialsdue8/21
Management RepresentationLetter / 7/17/15 / 9/23/2015
(follow-‐up through 10/29/2015) / The annual process during which Senior Management fromeachSchool/Unitdeclaresinwriting(toFADandultimatelytotheexternalauditor),tothebestoftheirknowledge,thatthefinancialstatementsand other presentations are sufficient and appropriate andwithoutomissionofmaterialfactstothefinancialstatements.
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PWC Interim AuditRequestsPWC YEAudit / 3/16/20156/20/2015 / 5/2/2015
(follow-‐upthrough5/22/2015)
8/17/2015
(follow-‐upthrough10/29/2015) / The University is required to have an annual audit of itsfinancialstatements.Thefinancialstatementauditisdonebyexternalauditors,PricewaterhouseCoopers,LLP(“PwC”).Thisistheannualprocessduringwhich requests are made to the Schools/Units to providefinancialinformationtoPwC,whichisusedintheirauditoftheUniversity’sfinancial statements. PwC may also request to do work ataSchool/Unit site. The date the financial information is requestedwilldependonwhethertherequestisfortheinterimauditortheyearendaudit.
Year EndClosing / 7/2/15 / 7/31/2015
(follow-‐upthrough10/29/2015) / TheannualprocessduringwhichtheUniversitycompletesitsfinancialstatementauditandissuesitsfinancialreportforthefiscalyear.Thisprocessalsoincludesthefinalperiodforprocessingaccountspayableinvoices as well as a comprehensive analysis and review oftheUniversity’scommitmentsandcontingencies.Analysisisperformedtocomparefinalizedresultswithbudgetsandinterimforecasts.
Internal ControlRevalidation
Assessment / 7/1/15 / 6/30/16 / SomeSchools/Unitswillbeaskedtovalidatethatkeycontrolsfromexistinginternalcontrolprocessesareoperatingasdesignedandtoidentifyanymodificationstokeycontrols.Additionally,theOCwillcontinuetoassessinternalcontrolsforadditionalbusinesscycles,duringwhichSchools/Unitswillbeexpectedtoparticipateininternalcontroldiscussions,documentationandimplementation.TheOCwillworkwithfinancialmanagerstodiscusswhatfinancialcycleswillbechosen forassessment.
A133 Audit* / 6/1/15 / 10/30/2015
(follow-‐upthrough11/30/2015) / *TheA133AuditincludesawardsforbothFinancialAidandResearchGrants.Schoolsareauditedonarotatingbasis(usuallyonceevery3yrs.),withtheexceptionoftheCollege,whichisauditedeveryyear.
Multi-‐YearFinancialPlanning (MYFP) / 7/1/2015 / 9/25/15
(follow-‐upthrough12/7/15)
Governance review:Corporation/FinanceCommittee, December2014 / TheannualprocessduringwhichSchoolsmapoutacomprehensive longrangefinancialplan(typicallyfiveyears)andengagewithsenior leadership,includingtheCorporation,ontheirlong-‐termstrategy.
Plansincludeprojectionsofoperatingrevenuesandexpenses,non-‐ operatingactivityandreserves,capitalandrenewalspending, decaps/recapstotheendowment,andCampaignfundraising.
CapitalPlanning / Guidance:earlyOctober
CPathCapitalPlanningSystemavailableearlyNovember / Mid-‐February(follow-‐upthroughMay2)
Governance review:Corporation/FinanceCommittee,Feb. 2016andMay2016 / TheannualprocessduringwhichSchoolsdeveloptheirmulti-‐year capitalspendingplans,requestingrecommendationforapprovalto theCorporationfromtheFacilitiesCommitteeandtheFinance Committee(forfundingonly). Plansincludefinancialinformationon eachcapitalproject,includingestimatedspendingovertimeand sourcesofprojectfunding.
Tuition, Enrollment andFinancialAid
(TEFA) / Fin Aid & DebtSvcRequest: August19
TEFA: Oct. 20 / FinAidDebtSvcRequest:October8atthelatest
TEFA:December31st (follow-‐upthroughFebruary8)
Governance review(TEFA):Corporation/Finance Committee,February2016 / TheannualprocessduringwhichSchoolsproposethefollowingyear’s tuitionrateandfirst-‐yearenrollmenttarget;plansarereviewedbythe FinanceCommitteeandvotedonbytheCorporation.Thedecision-‐ makingprocessisinformedbyanalysesoftotalestimatedfinancial aid,thecostofattendanceforstudents(bothacrosstimeandacross peerinstitutions),trendsinprogramapplicationsandyields,anddebt levelsofgraduatingstudents.
AnnualBudget / Budgetletter:mid-‐ November
Budget guidelines:mid-‐December / March7 (follow-‐upthroughMay2)
Governance review:Corporation/FinanceCommittee, May2016 / The annual process during which Schools develop theiroperatingbudgets for the following year and request approval fromtheCorporation (based on a recommendation from theFinanceCommittee).Schoolsalsosubmitaforecastofcurrentyearresultsandabudgetnarrative,outliningtheirgoalsandchallenges,highlightingrevenue and expense trends, and noting their progresstowardUniversityinitiatives.
Office of Financial Strategy & Planning:
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Risk Management & Audit Services:
Activity / AnticipatedStartDate / Anticipated DueDate / DescriptionInstitutional RiskManagementAnnualUpdate / July 15,2015 / September30
(follow-‐upthroughDecember1) / Anannualupdateontheriskmanagementprogramofeach
School/CADMunit.Thedetailtobereportedisprovidedannuallyandtypicallyincludesanupdatedheatmapshowingriskmovementfrom
Governancereview,Joint CommitteeonInspection,December2015 / the prior year, progress on mitigation efforts for toprisks,identificationofemergingrisks,andkeyactionsplannedfortheupcomingyear.Reportsareusedinmonitoringtheeffectivenessofthe University’s institutional risk management programandconsolidatedforpresentationtotheUniversityRiskManagement
Council.
RiskInterviews / July 1,2015 / October31
(follow-‐upthroughDecember1)
Governance review of annualinternalaudit and consulting plan: JointCommitteeon Inspection, December2015 / AnnualinterviewsconductedbyRMASwithselectedSchool/CADM leadershipteammembersforthepurposeofdevelopingRMAS’ annualinternalauditandconsultingplanthatissubmittedtotheJoint CommitteeonInspectionforapproval.Discussionwillincludein-‐ depthreferencetoSchool/CADMheatmaprisksinthe“strengthen controls”and“auditcontrols”quadrants;emergingissues(financial, operational,andcompliance);keyperformanceindicators;recentand impendingmanagementchanges;andstrategicdirection.
InternalAudits / July 1,2015 / June30
Governance review of audit planactivitiesfor the prior calendar year:JointCommitteeonInspection,February2016 / Anobjectiveandprofessionalevaluationofanarea,department,criticalsystemorfunctionaloperation’sinternalcontrolprocedures.Through these assurance and consultative activities, RMAShelpsUniversity leadership accomplish its objectives by bringingasystematic disciplined approach to evaluate and improvetheeffectivenessofriskmanagementandcontrolprocesses.
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Office for Sponsored Programs:
Activity / AnticipatedStart / Anticipated DueDate / DescriptionQuarterly Outreach
RE: Sponsor Metrics / Q1-October 2015 / Q4-June/July 2016 / The nature of research finance (RF) work leads to metrics on cash management, reporting and closeout that is shared regularly by RF Staff with departments and by OSP leadership with School Leadership. These metrics: AR, Reporting Statistics, Closeout statistics help Schools to understand an aspect of their research portfolio's performance through a financial and operational lens.
Federal Single Audit
(previously A133) /
3/15/16 / 3/31/17
(follow up through September/October 2017) / The Uniform Guidance requires annual audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations who receive federal funding exceeding $750,000. Harvard University's annual Federal Single Audit (formerly A-133) report covers the entire University. The audit of selected federal awards is done by external auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP with support from RMAS, and ultimately approved by Harvard. The audit requires significant input from Central, Schools, departments and faculty. The audit report is due annually by March 31 and is submitted to a Federal Clearinghouse.
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Activity / AnticipatedStart / Anticipated DueDate / DescriptionPayment Card Industry(PCI)Compliance / April1 / June30 / The annual process whereby the University Credit Card Merchants are required to complete and successfully submit an attestation of PCI Compliance. Process begins in April and University Credit Card Merchants must complete all requirements and submit signed documentation by June 30th to the OTM/Cash Management Office. During the month of July the OTM eCommerce Analyst reviews the merchants’ submissions. Once the Analyst has determined that 100% of merchants are compliant the OTM analyst completes the University wide SAQ and submits it to Bank of America Merchant Services and American Express, which are due to by EOM July.
BankReconciliations / Domesticaccounts:
due six weeksfromclose ofmonth / All reconciling items must be cleanedupwithin 90days / ThemonthlyprocessduringwhichCashManagementOfficeaccountantscompleteand/orreviewbanktogeneralledgerreconciliationsanddisseminatefindingsasappropriate.
Debt ComplianceSurvey / September1 / September 1 (follow upthroughDecember31) / TheannualprocesswherebyTreasurycollectsinformationfromtheschoolsandunitsrelatedtoactivities, whichmayconstitute“privatebusinessuse”asdefinedbytheIRS.Whentax-exemptdebtisutilizedasafundingsourceforconstructionorrenovationprojectstheIRSlimits“privatebusinessuse”withinthespaces/buildingsfundedbythisdebt.TheinformationisutilizedtocomplywithIRSreportingrequirementsonForm990(ScheduleK)oftheUniversity’staxreturnaswellascheckoverallcomplianceonalltax-exemptbondsandreportthisinformationannuallytotheCFO.
Internal Loan / Debt Service
Verification / Q1: September30
Q2: December31
Q3: March31
Q4: June30 / Q1:September30(follow-‐upthrough October3)
Q2:December31(follow-‐upthrough January5)
Q3:March31(follow-‐upthroughApril2) Q4:June30(follow-‐upthroughJuly2) / ThequarterlyprocessduringwhichOTMcalculatesquarterlydebtservice (principal and interest) for the school/unit internalloans.OTMforwardstheproposedentriestotheschoolsandunitsfortheirreview(verificationofaccountingcodes/amounts)priortouploadingthemforprocessingtothegeneralledger.
Office of Treasury Management:
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Financial SystemsSolutions:
Activity / Anticipated Start / Anticipated Due Date / DescriptionAccount Receivables Strategy
Discovery Project / 9/1/2015 /
10/31/2015 / Evaluate the potential for Harvard University to implement External Customer use of the Account Receivables module with the ability to make payment and collection of receipts using Customer Credit Cards. Evaluate how implementing Receivables Strategies could benefit and streamline the Collections effort for the University. Evaluate options of how Receivables could be leveraged to integrate Sponsored Grants receivables in order to potentially replace or interface w/ the custom FRAP application.
This initiative’s timeline is Sept – Oct 2015
Benefits the Office of Controller’s Central Account Receivables area, various departments and TUBS across the University, and Harvard’s external Customer base being billed by Harvard for goods and services.
Workflow & PO Close Cleanup Initiative /
7/1/2015 /
7/1/2015 / Initiative to purge millions of Approval Workflow records for HCOM, Web Reimbursement, CAPS, CSMA, Vendor Request, and several other applications that have Open and Closed items dating back to 1999
Institute new processes to manage Open and Closed approval workflow records so they are purged on a regular basis to maintain unnecessary buildup of volumes of data for these workflow items in our database tables. Open Transactions will now be maintained for 365 days and then Closed, and finally Purged following another 30 days. Repair several defects in existing custom programs that address Closing and Purging workflow items to avoid Orphan records building up in our database tables
Systematically Close thousands of PO’s dating back to 1999 that interfere with the quality reporting on true uncommitted funds for planned purchases. Institute new processes to manage the proper closing of Open PO’s in order to avoid the buildup of unnecessary volumes of PO’s. This will include implementing stronger thresholds for quantity, price, and receiving along with thresholds for invoice matching. Repair several defects in existing custom programs that address Closing PO’s.
-This initiative’s timeline is July – July 2016
-Benefits the entire Procurement user base at the University needing more robust reporting results, and benefits the University Financial Services Account Payables department and Strategic Procurement. This also benefits the wellbeing of the overall Financials Systems health as this leads to better database table storage management which will result in overall performance gains
Travel & Expenses Concur System
Implementation Wave 1 /
8/1/2015 /
4/30/2016 / -Implement the Concur Travel & Expense Reimbursement System for HBS and GSE
-Successfully integrate Concur with the Oracle Financials General ledger & Chart of Accounts
-Begin the planning for the University wide implementation of the Concur
T & E system and eventual sun-setting of the custom Web Reimbursement application
-This initiative’s timeline is Aug – April 2016
-Benefits to HBS and GSE to utilize a best practice SAS model application for Travel and Expense reimbursements. This also benefits the University Financial Services Account Payables department who will be to process employee expense reimbursements in a more efficient and streamlined manner. Finally, this sets the foundation for the entire University to move to the Concur system
Oracle Financials Platform Improvements /
10/1/2015 /
3/31/2017 / -Upgrade the Oracle Financials Database to version 12c in order to be current and supported by OracleMove Oracle Financials off of the current Solaris servers to the Virtualized Linux servers
-Apply necessary Patching Functionality to get us to the most current level of the Oracle EBS 12.1.3 version
-Prepare the Oracle Financials environment to meet SHA-2 security compatibility requirements
-Research and promote additional underutilized R12.1.3 functionalities to our end user base
-Institute Oracle EBS Database Archiving
-This initiative’s timeline is OCT 2015 – March 2017
-Benefits the entire University who rely daily upon the Oracle Financials ERP. All of the above work strengthens best practice policies for maintaining a robust financial system that promotes efficient performance and reliability. This also promotes our support relationship with the Oracle Vendor.
MA Earned Sick Leave Law (Compliance) /
7/1/2015 /
6/30/16 / Customized system solution to assist with tracking the accrual and use of the new earned sick time granted to Less than Half Time (LHT) and Temporary Employees in accordance with the new Earned Sick Time Policy recently passed by the state of Massachusetts. We plan to implement three iterations of our solution. The second one, around January 2016, will provide some improvements on the current version and bridge the gap to the final solution, estimated for April 2016.
PeopleSoft 9.2 Upgrade-FY 16/17 /
9/15/2015 /
6/30/2017 / The upgrade from PeopleSoft 9.1 to 9.2 will allow us to stay under vendor support, provide new functionality on a more continuous basis, decrease the level of effort and cost for future upgrades, enhance the current user experience, and reduce maintenance cost by retiring customizations.
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